StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm 2012 Release Unlikely According to Analyst

Say what you will about Blizzard, they donÂt get in a hurry to release games like many other publishers. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first of three planned installments in the StarCraft II saga, shipped out to players back in July 2010, a mere 12 years and some change after the original StarCraft launch. 2 years later, we still don't have a release window for the second installment of StarCraft II, and we'll likely not be seeing it this year either according to Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz, who in a research note stated, "Typically, Blizzard puts its new titles into beta for 3-6 months before they are officially released. With only 5 months left in the year, while it is still possible that Swarm could make the fiscal year, we are now assuming it ships in FY13.".

ItÂs really no surprise that StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm may not arrive this year. Blizzard announced in an earnings call early last year that they planned to launch two titles by the end of 2012. The first of those two games launched back in May with Diablo III, and the second title will arrive in September with World of WarcraftÂsMists of Pandaria expansion. So unless Blizzard decides to make it three, which I doubt, IÂm inclined to believe itÂs likely that we wonÂt be seeing Heart of the Swarm until sometime next year...maybe.

In the meantime, if you happen to be attending this yearÂs gamescom event in Germany, you can get some hands-on time with the Heart of the Swarm expansion. If not, sit tight and weÂll update you when we have more.